Claudette was my girl's club sponsor at Harding University, and over my four years there, she was a real encouragement to me. So when it came time to graduate, I asked Claudette and her husband if they'd like to get together for breakfast and meet my parents.

The five of us got together and oh, what a time my mom, June, and Claudette had! To say they "hit it off" is an understatement. As we were finishing breakfast, mom leaned over, patted Claudette's arm and said, "I wish you had a son!" Claudette perked up immediately and said, "I do! I do have a son!" And that was it...

Claudette called Joe, who was living in Fort Worth at the time, and left my name and number on his machine. Well, Joe says that he "remembered having seen me in church a couple of years earlier." (Bless that man's heart!) And that he'd asked his sister (who I sang in choir with) about me. But I was dating someone else at the time, and Joe and I never ended up meeting… Until God's timing was right!

I'm so grateful our mothers––who are both with the Lord now, together, waiting for us on the other side––and for the hand they had in helping their son and daughter "find" each other.

Speed ahead about a year...

The wedding went off without a hitch. Everything as planned.

Then as Joe and I were leaving, we were getting into the car when we heard a "rustle" in the back seat.

Out popped Laura Hall, a dear woman who had been like a surrogate grandmother to me for years. She'd been hiding back there for who knows how long, determined to go on the honeymoon with us. LOL!

(RH: Now that's funny!)

Laura went Home years ago, but I think of her so often, and remember how we used to go to a little Greek restaurant called Athens (in Atlanta) before heading to the Silver Screen to watch old movies.

I look forward to seeing her again…someday. Laura, a widow herself for many years, really mentored me for marriage, even before I met my husband.

What a story! Much better than the typical tin cans and spray paint we had on our VW as we sped away. Oh, there was the smoke bomb that thankfully didn't go off, but that they messed up the spark plug wires as they put on, necessitating a service station stop before we could leave on our honeymoon!I love how your mom amd mom-in-law had such a big part in getting you two together!